Eighty-seven

EIGHTY-SEVEN

Some people say : 'Look out for thirteen. Thirteen is an unlucky number.' Every time they hear the number thirteen, they say: 'Thirteen, unlucky number.' Every time they see the number thirteen, they say: 'Thirteen, unlucky number.' They're always on the lookout for things that are thirteen: like....January 13th, the score in the game when it's 11- 13, the number of times they've been to the park is thirteen, when the money they've got adds up to: thirteen, they say: 'Aha! Thirteen. Unlucky.' But if you believe this sort of stuff about thirteen and I don't, but if you do and thirteen is unlucky then I'm getting the feeling that it's all kind of obvious isn't it? I mean, it kind of announces itself doesn't it?: 'Hi, I'm thirteen. You know all about me, don't you? You know what I am, don't you? I'm unlucky, aren't I? You know that. I know that. We all know that. You can see it written all over me.' I mean it doesn't disguise itself, does it? You don't see thirteens going around pretending to be nineteens, do you? You don't walk past a 46 and just as you think it's gone it jumps on you screaming: 'Got you! Really I'm a thirteen!!!' You know a thirteen is a thirteen. It says it's thirteen and it is thirteen. So doesn't that make thirteen not-unlucky? Aren't all the people who believe that thirteen is unlucky ready for it? They think: 'Look out, here comes thirteen.' And they're very very careful about absolutely everything. In fact, they are so careful about absolutely everything I'm beginning to think that thirteen isn't unlucky. No, it's just the opposite. It's lucky. Thirteen, the lucky number, the number everyone is careful about, the moment when everyone takes great care. If you're going to believe in unlucky numbers, if you're going to believe that there really is some number that is unlucky don't you think it would be a kind of secret? Don't you think it would be so unlucky you wouldn't even know that it was being unlucky? It would just do all its horrible unlucky stuff and no one would know why. Maybe....seeing as so many people reckon that thirteen is the Big Bad One, there would be something thirteen-ish about it. It could have something to do with thirteen but not actually be thirteen. I've heard it said that some people who live Downunder in the Southern Hemisphere reckon that the one you have to look out for is 87.

Michael Rosen

To score snooker's maximum break You must always pot blacks, no mistake If you pot greens instead Between every red EIGHTY-SEVEN is what you will make

A Stanton

The world's two largest meteorite craters are both 87 miles in diameter. These are Sudbury, Ontario in Canada and Vredefort, South Africa.

Italy, France and the UK each have 87 members of the European Parliament, reflecting their similar populations.

The US space station Skylab travelled 87 million miles between its launch in 1973 and plummeting back to Earth in 1979.

87 is traditionally an unlucky score in cricket (perhaps because it is 13 runs less than a century).

A catalytic converter can reduce hydrocarbon emissions by 87% over the lifetime of a vehicle.

The largest Roman aqueduct was built in Tunisia in the second century AD and measure 87 miles long.

In a single year 87 ft of rain fell in Cherrapunji, northeastern India.

There are 87 greyhound tracks in the UK.

The river Dee in Scotland is 87 miles long.

In America one birth in approximately 87 is a twin birth. Triplets are about 87 times rarer than twins, and quadruplets about 87 times rarer than triplets.